Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Every budget, there are winners and losers. This year, gas companies are the big winners. Instead of ensuring Australians receive a fair return on our oil and gas, revenue from our oil and gas will actually fall.

Imagine the nice things we could have if our government had the courage to make oil and gas corporations pay their fair share of tax. We could expand the PBS to fund more life-saving medications. We could eliminate out-of-pocket costs for seeing GPs. We could make it easier to see medical specialists in public hospitals. And we could make dental more affordable. We could provide universal child care. We could improve aged-care services, without cutting private insurance rebates. We could fully fund foundational supports and Thriving Kids, so that the 160,000 Australians who are about to get kicked off the NDIS would have somewhere to go. We could dismantle Job-ready Graduates. We could expand paid prac placements. And we could support our universities better. We could fix HECS, so that Australians aren't paying more in HECS indexation than we are receiving from the PRRT.

The choices that governments make reflect their priorities. In this budget, the Albanese government has prioritised oil and gas multinationals over Australians. And they're not going to forget it.

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